The Texas Miracle #9: What is Texas Country Music?

The Texas Miracle #9: What is Texas Country Music?

Austin singer-songwriter and ‘Texas country sweetheart’ Kelly Willis gives us a lesson in Lone Star twang.

This week on our Texas Miracle podcast, the Observer‘s weekly compendium of everything you need to know, but probably wish you didn’t, about the Lone Star state: Texas’ “country sweetheart,” Austin singer-songwriter Kelly Willis stops by the Texas tiki shed to talk about what makes Texas country music, well Texas-y? (With no apologies whatsoever to Nashville country, about which we talk a very restrained amount of smack.)

We’ll also talk to San Antonio College professor Lisa Ramos, who’s part of the charge to change Mexican-American studies in Texas, and in particular, to do something about that horrendous textbook. Y’all know the one: it calls the Chicano movement a plot to “destroy this society,” and contains other outrageous — not to mention factually incorrect — claims. Which is… not ideal in a textbook, even in Texas.

Texas Monthly writers Dan Solomon and Jessica Luther join host Andrea Grimes and Observer staffer Alexa Garcia-Ditta for this week’s news roundup, where we’ll get the latest on the hottest presidential ticket, Hillary/Bump On A Log 2016, and an update on what’s happening with the ongoing Baylor University sexual assault scandal. And the Observer‘s Patrick Michels brings us another wild bunch of weirdness in this week’s Strangest State segment, including a look at the Lacy Lakeview “Binky Bandit.”

[Editor’s note: There is adult language in this podcast! You can find the Texas Miracle on iTunes and Stitcher. Follow us at @TheTexasMiracle and here on the website for news and updates. If you want to submit an Ask A Texan question, e-mail us at podcast@texasobserver.org or leave us a voicemail at 512-981-5936!]